Entries tagged with help stop this nonsense

Dia de los inocentes (our version of April Fool's Day) is on the march. Here's to hoping it doesn't end with something on fire/someone on the emergency room as it happens every year, because I live with heathens.

In other news, someone needs to do a Niki Lauda/James Hunt Rush fanvid with this song:

Also, I most definitely do not think that RL Lauda, for being a bloke who honest to God looked like a rat, was unexplicably, bafflingly cute, or that he and Hunt were kind of adorable together, because I do not RPS, all right?

What is ACTA? ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

For those of you wanting to participate in the upcoming Black March protest against Internet censoring legislation, but favor a more targeted approach: The SOPA Boycott:Boycotting those companies that sponsored or supported SOPA and PIPA. This allows participants to focus their efforts on larger companies and avoid harming indie artists and small businesses.

There are lists being pulled together to help focus the boycott efforts. One is here. But near the top is a more compete list that also offers a boilerplate script you can use to contact the individual companies you will be boycotting, to let them know your opinion and that you will not support their company unless they rethink their position. And there even is an app to help you identify the companies and their products.

So whether you favor a total boycott or a targeted boycott, you can participate and you can tailor your level of participation. We have the tools, the will and the strength to take a stand.

Note: the Business Software Alliance that represents a large number of software and hardware companies (Dell, Apple, Intuit, Adobe) withdrew its support in November, so keep in mind that the Google list is in process of being updated.

edited to add: name of the targeted campaign, along with a link to the Android app.